Discussion about a replacement to capitalism

[Andy Hamilton]

I was reading something the other day in The Big Earth Book by James Bruges. One thing that really caught my eye was a section about Worgl.Here is some more infomation on it. considering that our money is based on interest, this system is based on the opposite and means no one can horde cash.

and an extract... T

he Worgl Bills would depreciate 1% of their nominal value monthly. To prevent this devaluation the owner of the Bill must affix a stamp the value of which is the devaluation on the last day of the month. Stamps were purchased at the parish hall. Because nobody wanted to pay a devaluation (hoarding) fee the Bills were spent as fast as possible.

Worgl Success

Over the 13-month period the Worgl money was in circulation, the mayor carried out all the intended works projects. The council also built new houses, a reservoir, a ski jump, and a bridge. The people also used scrip to replant forests, in anticipation of the future cash flow they would receive from the trees.

It actually makes a lot sense to me and it is worth reading a bit more about it on that link if you have the time.

Am I missing something or does it seem like a perfectly logical, very good monetary system?

[MKG]

I'm afraid you're missing something ... Very clever man, but all he actually did was recognise the existence of inflation and take it under control locally. Basically, he said that if you didn't spend your money in the local economy (the new money couldn't be spent anywhere else)within a month, you were going to be hammered by depreciation at a specific time rather than at an indeterminate time. It's the "spend in the local economy" and "specific time" bits which are much more important than the re-invented money. Any localised area can do exactly the same thing now by merely agreeing to circulate ALL the money in the local economy (no leaks allowed) in exchange for goods and services. The clever bit is obtaining the agreement and ensuring that no-one ducks out of the system without paying the price of that themselves.

So - how can a local area overcome human greed? How can you prevent people from cheating the system and bringing in outside goods and services. Those are the questions that Michael found an answer to - but only temporarily.